Stiga Airoc Astro M

I have played with Astro M about 20 hours on my fh. I have quite good serves and I try to attack with my fh everytime I have an opportunity. My game plan is to make the points with my fh with high risk.

Astro M is a really good attacking rubber with medium throw, good speed and spin and excelent control. It´s not too bouncy for a short game but gives a really good catapult effect when I drive hard. With spinny opening loops I can get excelent control and good amounth of spin. This rubber is very balanced rubber. Not too fast but fast enough to hit winners without maximum effort. Counter drives of the bounce are easy to excecute when I´m at the right possisition and if I´m a bit of the control of my strokes is still quite good. From mid distance this rubber is really good and throw angle is perfect for my technique.

All and all I have found that Astro M is easy rubber to play with. Only donwnside seems to be it´s durability. After 20h of playing time I can see significant marks of wearing on a top sheet. It still plays great tough. With better durability this would be a five star rubber for sure!

Edit. Now I have used 3 sheets of Airoc Astro M I still feel that this is playingwise the best post sg rubber for my game which I have tried. I have played about 20+ 1 tournament/sheet. After that the top sheet is too worn out for my liking. I have noticed that this rubber has to bake in before it feels perfect. With last 2 rubbers I have stressed them a bit (like a rubber band) before gluing it on my blade this way there is no brake in time and the rubber feels perfect from the first loop. NOTE do not stress the rubber while glueing otherwise it will shrink.

Stiga Airoc Astro M
Sponge hardness: Max
Weight: Approximately 66-68 grams uncut
Hardness: around 45 degrees
Speed: OFF+



I tested the Astro M on a verity of blades including Stiga Rosewood V, Yinhe T-1 as a representative of using a very fast carbon blade, an ITC XF for a controlled composite fiberglass layered blade and the Stiga Clipper wood.

The Astro M has a reactive and springy feel when pressed hard. On first bounce the rubber has a high rebound on the ball. The sponge pores are very small and lightweight. The topsheet feels grippy, more so than the original Airoc M version.

The Astro M speed is similar to very fast euro rubbers and is evn bouncier than any other 45 degree tensor rubber. It is slower than the Evolution MX-P though. The rubber has good spring when hitting the ball on drives and smashes.

The M performs superbly on service and receives. They are both insensitive to incoming spin which I liked about the rubbers in this area of play. When receiving using drop shots or flicks, there is high control.

When playing topspins the M version had good amounts of spin but not as much as the soft version of the Astro rubber. The Astro M however does produce more spin than the Airoc M. The Astro M has a low to medium arc when doing loops and the Astro S has a medium to high arch doing the same stroke.

Overall, I would prefer the Astro S version. It is a very good and complete all around rubber which offers good spin and excellent attacking in all strokes. The Astro M is better in smashing and driving away from the table but the Astro S has better spin. The 2 rubbers pair well with both all wood and with composite blades. The Astro S is very versatile and plays good with any carbon blade with off or off+ speeds. The Astro M can be a smashing and driving monster when paired with an off+ carbon blade especially if you are far from the table.

Hi all,

Hi all, here is my latest review on STIGA’s new product, the Airoc Astro M rubber. The Astro is an advancement to the Japanese style Airoc rubber which was released earlier this summer. The rubber comes with its blue porous sponge, and glossy, shiny top sheet.


The pimple structure is similar to the original Airoc, however the air bubbles in the Astro are smaller and in turn means there are more pimples, which has been developed to create a more catapult effect from away from the table.



The Airoc Astro weighs 69 grams and cut weighs 49 grams. The top sheet of the rubber feels and looks grippy.



Forehands

Before I started using the rubber I thought it would be very similar to the airoc, however I was surprised to find that you could tell immediately of some fundamental differences. The speed was definitely faster with the Airoc Astro. The crisp impact produced a nice catapult effect on the new plastic ball, which is essentially what this rubber is designed to deal with. Here are some examples demonstrating the explosive power of the rubber.


Away from the table

From mid distance to away from the table, you can produce a lot of speed and control on the ball due to the long trajectory produced. This gave a lot of accuracy in my shots.

I found that on some occasions, playing close distance, the ball would go directly off the end of the table when going for power, as this rubber doesn't naturally produce as much dip on the ball as other tackier surfaced rubbers . I therefore had to adjust my technique with more of a brushing motion when playing power shots to compensate for the rubbers throw angle. However from mid distance this longer flight path meant that I had great safety and consistency in my attacking shots.

Spin

When playing against backspin I felt it was easy to impart a lot of spin on the ball really helping for instance, with third ball attacks when the ball was pushed long. The amount of spin produced with the Astro felt similar with the original Airoc. I felt comfortable receiving backspin serves with my backhand flick, the ball really soaked into the sponge creating lots of rotation on the ball which set me up strongly for fifth ball attacks.

Counter Topspin

Precise timing was required for the counter topspin, if this was not met the ball would fly off the end of the table. Once adjustments had been made by closing the racquet angle, I could counter topspin effectively.

Match play

After testing the rubbers with various shots and techniques, it was time to take on Tom in a few sets to see how the rubber held up in matchplay.

Conclusion

The Astro certainly excels it’s predecessor Airoc in terms of it’s speed. There were a lot of players commenting that the old rubber was not fast enough. I certainly felt that Stiga have combated this by increasing the speed in its new addition to the airoc series.

I was really impressed with the control to speed ratio of the rubber as it doesn't compromise on either aspect. The rubber really shines when engaging in aggressive attacking play from mid distance. Whilst at the same time I was able to produce a good amount of spin in the short game when needed on shots such as flicks, open ups and slow topspin.

Overall the rubber works well for players who want stability and control in their game and want that extra bit of kick and speed in their shots when needed.

Airoc astro m is a great rubber as it has a great feeling when striking the ball and you can generate a massive amount of spin and speed while keeping the control, it also has a great touch round the net for short game, the rubber is really good for counter looping and even from back from the table it keeps the control and arks well over the net

Have two Astro glued on 190 Cpen. Astro M black FH and Astro S red RPB. Uncut weight of black is 67.7g and red 66.5g which are on the heavy side. Blade itself is 84.5g and total setup weight is a manageable 186.8g. This rubber is a heavy weight contender as usual.

Astro has a shine and grainy top sheet. Initial feel is that Astro got lots of grip and dwell in play with less bounce than standard Airoc. Could change after some breaking in (feels more alive after a few days). Final speed is more or less the same if not better. Any difference in feel could be due to the freshness of the new sheets. Can't say it is a hugh step up from Airoc but it is definitely not any let down.

I see a pip structure difference between the two. Airoc's pip is very small and short in a cylindrical shape. Astro is also small but looks trapezoid.
Astro is pretty good on its own and strike a perfect balance between Speed, Spin and Control with a capital "C".

If you check the ratings between Calibra Tour M, Airoc M and Astro M on the package, they are very much the same in every categories with the new Astro reaching 152 in speed. But the small print said maximum rating is 150 so Stiga has to make their new rubber look good and exceed the Airoc's already high 149 by 3 points. I think they can make up something out of nothing if they have to.

One word about cutting. I found it among the easiest rubber to cut. The same cutter can't give a clean cut through the Calibra Tour sponge. That is one big plus for me. I hate jagged edges.

If it is any lighter I may give it 5 stars.